First Reading Glass Clinic

We had our first reading glass clinic today and through it all, we said little prayers for all our family and friends who have sent glasses via people coming into Guatemala. Marci, your gift and your offer to be courier for these glasses are so appreciated. Kathy, Marian, Gerri, Lori, and book group friends, DUP, all of you...thank you. We didn't intend to do a clinic quite so soon, but a nearby stake heard about our project of "A Thousand Pair by Spring" and asked us to come and do a "small" clinic...maybe 10 or 20. This stake is in a poor section of town and the stake building is the most beautiful structure in the vicinity. This small clinic turned out to be huge. People had been in the hall since 8:00 in the morning and were lined up and down the halls waiting for us. We gave away 78 pair of glasses. For a brief, very brief, moment I wanted to wait until we had all 1000 pair before we started giving them out, but almost instantly I felt chastened by the Spirit. The need in the city is as real as the need in the highlands and my axis shifted in a moment. To see these older people suddenly SEE the words in the Book of Mormon was wonderful. The hugs were cherished. These are people who would not be able to buy such a luxury as a pair of reading glasses, and here they were. We nearly depleted our stock, but we have 80 or so left with 400 coming in the next few weeks. I think we will have another hundred or so in December. We had many older people walk away with "new eyes", a few who could not be helped due to other conditions, several children with serious problems for which Kim couldn't be of help because of lack of equipment, and many 50 years old and up. We had a lady come in this morning and she was probably about 65 years old. She picked up a pair of glasses. Later in the morning we went to see the Seminary Graduation Robes that were being made for the graduation next Sunday. There, in the corner, was the lady...sitting at the sewing machine putting these robes together, wearing these glasses and also wearing a huge smile because it was so easy to see the needle. I am so grateful for the generosity of others. If only everyone knew how much this gift meant to these people.

A little miracle

This may not sound like a miracle, but we are still shaking our heads in disbelief. We went into a bookstore this afternoon to look for "Why the Chimes Rang". We couldn't find it, of course, but while we were there we were laughing about finding pictures with small detail to use at the reading glass project we are having on Saturday morning. Several people cannot read and it will be difficult to help them find a power for glasses without some other clue. We said to ourselves, "Remember the WHERE'S WALDO" books Grandma Taylor used to have? We thought that book, with all its small detail, would be perfect.. Just then, I walked over to a children's section to look at their selection and the first book I put my hand on was a "WHERE'S WALDO". Wow!
This was in a fairly large store and this was quite amazing to us. It was sort of finding the needle in the haystack by sitting on it.

We had a pretty big earthquake today and we didn't even feel it. We were on the highway at the time, and driving in Guatemala is an "earthquake" in itself so we missed feeling this one.

Dad has his CCM lecture tomorrow and which is now #2 on our "scary" list. Zone Conferences are #1. Dad has worked so hard on these conferences. We are depending on Julie Hewlett's "chink theory" which is "that when we have worked as hard as we can, God will fill in the chinks". It is daunting to give a health lecture that is so needed to 70 -80 eager, brand-new missionaries and maintain that wonderful Spirit that has carried them through the first few days in the mission home. Dad is really trying and has grown so very much.

Little things like finding 9 jump-ropes for the missionaries to use in the CCM has made it a perfect day.

I forgot one thing. As I was playing the tachleta (keyboard) for the Sacrament song, the "d" began to move. I thought it was just the heat, so I followed this note. Suddenly I realized that a fly (mosca) was walking in a perfectly horizontal line along the D line of the staff. I was "playing" the fly. They were the wrong notes, of course. I tried hard not to laugh in the middle of the Sacrament song. This is just one of hundreds of silly situations we've encountered.

Continuing=

We've had dramatic moments as one elder fainted on a bus and was admitted to a really, really horrible hospital. Just short of the end of our Friday Zone Conference we found out that this Elder was in the Roosevelt Hospital. The Mission President, the two nurses, Kim and I, and an elder left zone conference. President Alvarado knew what kind of a hospital this was. We didn't! When we got there it was an unbelievably grim place. We had to stand at a fence to be admitted. We never could go in, but finally one nurse was able to go in and search for him. She was pale when she came out only to tell us that the Elder had checked himself out. We watched the Mission President pray silently for the hour we were outside. When we found out the elder was home we saw President Alverado smile for the first time. We went back to the ward house for clinic and it was early in the evenng when we finished, so we took the nurses to the Marriot Hotel for dinner, which is a plush place with a great buffet. We had a father call from Salt Lake, worried about his son, a missionary with nerve problems very similar to Multiple Sclerosis, hundreds of back and knee problems, foot fungus (as in many places the missionaries never have dry shoes), colds, a heart problem which required a senior missionary to need to be sent home, and on and on. There is never a dull moment. To underline all that we have lightning and thunder, rain mixed with beautiful skies, and clouds that drift in and out of these hills and valleys. Dad and I took our Sunday dinner up to the roof and while there, had rain, sunlight, cool and warm temperatures. The weather is never boring! We need to shop for food as we haven't had time to do this for 10 days. Our pantry is getting very bare and we are scraping the cupboard for essentials when we get home each night. We are trying our best to eat in the way we encourage our missionaries to do, but we understand why it is so hard. There is no time!

We have asked the local Lion's Club if we can volunteer. We went to a breakfast meeting a few weeks ago and they told us about their main project and asked us if we would go to view it last night (Monday). I couldn't go as we had invited a family with four teen-agers to come to FHE, but dad and another couple (the Bawdens) went. This facility is about an hour and a half from GC and is a place for orphaned, abused, neglected, nutritionally challenged children under 8 years of age. We will help, and do what we can for these children. We are trying to figure a way to do it.

We have 300+ pair of glasses...well on our way to a Thousand By Spring. However, we have a hitch. A stake nearby has asked us to come to their chapel on Saturday and test and dispense glasses to some of the older people in the stake. We are so excited to do this, but now know we will have to keep a running tally of where the glasses go...even if it isn't Spring. Thank you, all of you, for your efforts to go to All a Dollar stores and send glasses down to us. There are always people coming and going so getting them to us is certainly possible. I know who is coming and when. We are getting another hundred in November so any of you with Sub for Santa's, Eagle Projects, etc. think about this project. All of you...thank you! The people in these little hillside villages, highland areas will never be able to afford even cheap glasses, neither will they be able to actually see a doctor or an optician. These glasses are a blessing, and so very needed.

I must say a word about the very able, talented and spiritually strong senior missionaries. We love and honor them and have been so grateful for their support, friendship and example. We have lots of fun activities...and always with food. This is great because lots of us have little time to do big meals for ourselves.

Sights and sounds, colors, and contours of hills, roads, canyons, valleys fill our eyes and ears. A feeling of love for the Gospel and for these young men and women fill our hearts, minds and souls. There is a completeness to our days, short as they seem to be. We are blessed!

Almost the middle of October

The last two weeks have been incredibly busy. We have had our first zone conference where Kim had to do Health Presentations. This means that we are at the conference from early morning until late afternoon. We had three this week. Two were in Guatemala City and the other about 31/2 hours south of GC. This was a great learning experience, especially on the first day as our Power Point presentation (which is essentially 1 1/2 hours of pictures and information) did not work due to a few insurmountable technical difficulties. It was our worst nightmare, but the Mission President took pity on us and closed our part of the conference a bit early. Dad also does clinics on those days for the missionaries who are too far away to see nurses and/or doctors. We love them and are continually amazed at their maturity and self-reliance. Yet, in many ways, they are still boys and our hearts go out to them. Most of them do the best they can with so very little in the way of money and other things we call necessities, like clothes and food. This conference was a single mission and we were so inspired by this Mission President and his wife. Hope, faith, growth, change and unity - all were topics covered. Dad and I both had to bear our testimony and give short talks in Spanish in all three conferences. I am amazed that both of us are able to converse. We still can't hear, but we are learning to read and to actually make a small conversation. When nature decides to unleash the heavens it does so with gusto. Our drive to Zapata was a worry. In the morning we worried about robbers and traffic, but on the three hour drive home we thought we might get a boulder on our car or be squashed by a landslide...all of which are everywhere during the rainy season. These are not small landslides, but huge hills that are gouged out of the mountain by sheer gravity. They suddenly get to that failure point where an extra inch grows on a root, or a pebble moves at the toe of the hill, and down it goes. Fourteen hundred people were displaced a month or so ago, with 14 people dead. Homes which are built on hillsides are terribly vulnerable. These homes, to make it even worse, are tiny homes for very poor people. If their home goes, and if they survive, they are homeless. We have been with the two Hermanas (nurses) for the whole week for 14 - 15 hours every day. We have learned to love them and have enjoyed our hours in the car, in the clinics, and at lunch and dinner. We played the yellow card game Jazmine enjoys so much where you take a card and have to answer the question and reference it to your own life. The questions are great. We played this game in the car for 6 hours. These Hermanas are about 22 years old and remind us so of Jess, Lauren, and Jaime...easy to talk to, imaginative, full of fun. That is not easy when we have a grim moment or two.

I went tracting with these two nurses. They tract about half the time. We went to a lovely woman's home who reminds me so much of my friend, Sharon Alderman. All the homes in Guatemala are invisible because the wall that sits on the curb looks just like that...a wall. When you are invited in you go through the door into another world. Sometimes the world is not all that great, but often you walk into a lovely garden and a home that reflects that family's personality. We see this over and over. This woman is an art professor who teaches children in her studio at home (which smelled of oil paint, and how I love that smell) . Her philosphy is to put many children doing many things: in park, a zoo, a back yard, a treehouse, a circus; and to have the children standing on heads, doing carwheels, etc. No child is static and there is an electricity to these immature paintings. I would pay good money for paintings like this. She had a delightful sense of humor and her house was full of animals, among which were 3 brand-new dogs and baby birds in a cage who were peeping out of a nest tucked away in the corner of the cage. It was an eclectic and busy home. Our next appointment (and I am going) is Thursday at 3:00. I look forward to it.

We have another lecture on Friday and are frantically trying to revise and tweak it as we are now realizing that many of the things we say, and things that have been handed down from previous doctors, are simply not realistic. Somehow, we have to help the missionaries understand they MUST drink water, eat fruit and vegetables. Last Wednesday, at the end of a lecture we had a little time, and opened the way for a few questions. One Elder said, in all seriousness, "Is it OK to eat peanut and jelly sandwiches all day everyday?" The young men and women are so young, and yet very wise. There is no question in our minds about who is leading these young men. How can they do this, and do this so well, is the question. Without the Lord, they couldn't.

A funny story -

My language, or lack thereof, created an amusing situation this afternoon. One of the clinics we hold on Friday is at the Central Mission Office. Dad holds a clinic for any of the missionaries in the South or Central Mission who want to talk to the "doctor" about issues for which they might have some concern. The nurses are so competent that this is really just a formality, but the missionaries want to confirm their concerns with dad. After clinic today the nurse realized there was one Hermana who hadn't arrived. We waited, but she and her companion never came. Just as we were about to leave they walked into the office and the Hermana who needed care was crying. She was just sobbing. They had taken the wrong bus and they had come from another town. We held her in our arms and tried to comfort her. After the discussion they needed to leave quickly to get back to the bus. I realized they were probably hungry so I insisted that we go into the back where the office has a little refrigerator. We made three peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (now this is where you picture how bossy I am). I organized everyone and we put together these sandwiches from frozen bread, which had to be thawed, etc. When they were finished I ordered one of the elders to explain to the "supposed" sister's companion that she take the sandwiches. The elder complied, giving me a strange look. The companion, or so I thought, gave me an odd look, but they didn't speak English and I didn't speak Spanish. Suddenly, as I pressed the sandwiches into the Hermana's hands, I realized the Hermana who was in such distress was nowhere to be seen. As we walked out of the office it dawned on me that the reason for the strange looks was that the other Hermana had left long before and I was giving the sandwiches to one of the office workers. Embarrasing!

We went to the Lion's Club Breakfast this morning (at 7:00). We had to be at the CCM at 8:30 so we were flying. This president of this chapter showed us their initiative which was a large facility for malnourished children, children who had been neglected or abused. There are two rooms not being used at the moment where we can, with the permission or our Area Humanitarian people, put a small vision clinic and a dental chair, etc. The Bawden's who live upstairs, and with whom we have formed a fast friendship - and who speak fabulous Spanish, made it possible for us to communicate. He is a dentist and Kim, being an eye doctor, may make it possible to help these children.

A funny story -

A funny story -

A Thousand Pair by Spring

Our new motto...as we are trying to accumulate 1000 pair of reading glasses of all powers by spring. There is a need! What we are doing is to encourage buying reading glasses at a Dollar store in Salt Lake, anywhere in US, and sending them down to us with the people who are visiting. It's unbelievable how much traffic there is from all the senior missionaries families, the Area Presidency, Seventys' going back and forth. We have found a humanitarian source as well. As people accumulate the glasses Marci has volunteered (?)to be the courier to get the glasses from whomever is donating them and getting them to the people who are going to Guatemala. They can't be mailed...they would never get here, at least that is what we think. Actually, we could try it and see what happens with a few glasses.

We are the oldest, by far, of all the missionaries in the Area. Most are in their early 60s. We don't feel like the grandparents for a couple of reasons: 1. these people are so accomplished that we learn from them. and 2. everyone is so nice and we all bring such diverse talents to the group that it seems that age doesn't matter.

There are two young ladies in our office who want to learn English. They are about 19. Pamela and Laura (although you'd never know the names when said in Spanish) want to learn English, so we have decided we will memorize scriptures - they in English and me in Spanish. We take turns picking the scriptures and usually it takes a couple of days. Then we get together and I give a treat if we can all do it. They do it well, I stumble a lot, but they are patient. One scripture we memorized is the one where Nephi says that if the Lord commanded a way will be prepared...and I am counting on that for learning Spanish.

The Spanish computer keyboard is quite a challenge for me and I still make lots and lots of mistakes. Dad usually uses this one so I have to press keys in certain arrangments to make the accent marks of text in Spanish, which I'd rather do anyway.

We have volunteered to help with the Lion's Club International. Their specific mission is VISION, and we have observed their program around the world. We found a chapter in Guatemalea City and will go to their breakfast tomorrow morning. I am excited about just helping children stand in line as they get seen by doctors, etc.

Traffic is efficient although crazy. No one observes stop signs, but the semaphores are strictly watched. Drivers are generally nice and will let you in during the horrible traffic hours...and they are horrible. Mudslides of hills, accidents, and so on just bring traffic to a halt from time to time. Dad has it down pretty well but most of the time I shut my eyes and pray.

One story, and if thee is any doubt about the expansion of our testimonies - let there be none, as we feel the hand of the Lord continually in small and large things. We are amazed at the guidance we feel from the Spirit. Here is a story for the children. Last week, a wonderful old german gentleman came to visit Kim in the office. He was gracious, dignified and very distinguished. He kissed my hand, and so of course, I was instantly impressed. Brother Gert told his conversion story and I would lie to pass it on to you. He had owned a major airlines, but he also took tours from all over the world to Israel, Greece and Rome. He loved the Bible as a story and knew every word. But, he was a dedicated, committed athiest. The Bible was the most beautiful book in the world and the steps of the prophets in the OT and the travels ofJ Jesus and Paul, particularly, was his passion although he regarded these people as if as in a beautiful story. Over the years he took thousands of people on tours. He is so talented at telling stories that the time he spent in our office seemed to fly. In 1992 a friend who was LDS invited him to their home. They showed him a video from the church and he though it nice but not relevant to him. The second time he was invited to dinner. The father asked the little 8 year old son to give the blessing on the food. This child gave the standard blessing on the food...as all 8 year olds do. Brother Gert was impressed and listened intently at the words this young boy said. During the prayer he had a witness that Christ lived and further, that he WAS the Son of God. Joy infused his soul and he said that when he opened his eyes after the prayer he was a Christian. Later he joined the church. Because of a simple prayer by a child hundreds and hundreds of people in Guatemala, where he has lived the past 20 years ,have been influenced. He is a friend of the Area Presidency and has served in many capacities...all because of a child.

Evidently he has been part of the Family Home Evening Group for many years,but due to very poorhealth has not attended since we have been here , until last week that is.

A quiet week, but a dear one.